


Unfinished Business

by ToMaX



Category: Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Anger Management, Blood brothers ending, Canon Compliant, Gen, Return to the US, Reunions, Revenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22913551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToMaX/pseuds/ToMaX
Summary: The Diaz brothers have been living in Mexico for six years now. Their relatively happy life changes after a clash with a gang, getting police involved which now focuses on Sean and Daniel more than ever before.They throw all barriers away and decide to return to the US, not afraid of anything anymore. Six years ago they left a lot of unfinished business behind and now it's time to pay a visit to old friends... and enemies.Standing in their way is not advised. Nothing can stop the wolf brothers.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 39





	1. The Mexican Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic.  
> I am excited to read your opinions and constructive criticism to help me improve new chapters in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter is more of an introductory one so it's not very plot-heavy.  
> It's about catching up with the brothers and seeing how they live and what they've been up to.

_Just...don't feed the beast, you know?_

_Puerto Lobos, 2023_

The steam is rising from the two cups on the table, the house is being flooded by the morning sunlight while music, probably unknown to most of the world, flows through the air with just enough volume to be heard. There is a young man with short dark hair sitting comfortably, absorbing all the light he can, impatiently waiting for someone. The sunrays reveal his left eye made from black glass, making him look tough but also secretly talking about everything he has been through.

The man is Sean Diaz, the mass murderer, robber, terrorist, criminal, fugitive. You could expand the list of his professions ad nauseum… or at least that is how the world sees him now.

But is that really who he is? Or is he just a loving brother, a boy who had to grow up all too quickly, someone who had to make the toughest decisions, a man who got beaten again and again but who endured and survived and who is now walking in his father’s footsteps, living and fixing cars in his papa’s hometown. His past is something that is not bothering him anymore, he seems happy now. Well, happy as a man technically still on the run from the law can be.

He has not exactly been keeping a low profile and he’s pretty sure that the cops are aware of his whereabouts, however since they haven’t been giving him much trouble, he always assumed that they have more important stuff to do than catching Americans. Or maybe they are just too scared. _And scared they should be…_

A slow tapping can be heard coming down the stairs. A rather tall looking boy for his apparent age with shaggy dark brown hair emerges from the shadow of the wall-covered stairway. The cold concrete is a delight for his feet as the little beach house is built in such a way to keep the raging Mexican heat outside. Coming from much colder Washington, he never liked the heat, but living here for the past six years, he had to acclimate.

It’s Sean’s little brother, Daniel. It seems just like yesterday that he was a care-free little kid, playing Minecraft with his best friend Noah. But like his older brother, he too had to grow up unexpectedly and prematurely, even quicker than Sean as his life got flipped upside-down when he was just nine.

He is the one who really did all the things his brother is being accused of, or at least most of them. But who would suspect a little kid having superpowers and doing all that? They both know how it is, yet they don’t care. As far as they are concerned, they did it together, they did it for each other, they did it to survive, because there was no justice, because they were forced to. Now they are here and there is no point in looking back.

“Hey, bro.” Daniel tiredly says as he yawns at the same time. He has been more of a nocturnal person for the past years, usually gaming, reading or just watching stuff on his laptop the whole night and sometimes going to sleep only when he hears Sean already getting up.

“Morning, Daniel. I heard you being awake, so I’ve prepared some ‘hot cocoa’ for my little brother.” a little smirk pops up on Sean’s face. Daniel might be sixteen, but Sean always enjoys every opportunity to call him his little brother.

Daniel slams himself on the chair, like he just walked two days nonstop and this was his first time sitting down. “Hot cocoa with a fuck-ton of caffeine? Thanks, I need that.” he takes a deep breath to take in the coffee aroma.

Sean recognizes this morning routine all too well, even though Daniel usually gets up around noon. “You’ve been up the whole night again?” he asks, already knowing the answer.

“Umm… maybe, but not because of the reasons you think. I wasn’t playing games the whole night for a change. I got into that mellow mood to re-read your journal again.” Daniel stops for a while and then decides to admit that he had been also playing a bit, “And… yeaaah, I might have been gaming up until that moment.” Daniel then chugs half of the coffee from the cup. He always argues that being awake throughout the night is his way of protecting the house, while Sean can be on the watch during the day.

“Sneaking into my room while I’m out cold I see… Hope you at least made sure that I was asleep before entering.” the brothers are not keen on rules, but privacy is one of the few rules they’ve established or rather kept from their life in Seattle. Sean lets out a little sigh, “But how can I be mad? You know it always makes me happy when you read it and I’m glad you like it so much. That’s why I keep writing and drawing the new journal. If you’ll ever read it in the future, it will be worth it just for that.” he smiles.

Daniel has been re-reading the old journal as a whole at least once a year and he regularly just randomly swipes through the pages. He loves Sean’s art style and smiles at the way Sean talked about him and how he saw the world. Even the parts where Daniel was being a little brat and Sean was genuinely pissed at him put a smile on his face now. However, the past that the journal portraits is not a cheerful one. It’s full of suffering, sorrow, regrets and horrors, and the happy parts are not able to lift the weight of the painful ones. But Daniel is not afraid of their past anymore, after all he is the one with the real power.

“I know you don’t like it when I go into your room, but hey, old habits die hard, right? And I promise to not enter without your permission anymore.” Daniel defends himself with a voice just convincing enough for Sean to let it slide.

Sean puts his hands behind his head and nods a bit, “Yeah, yeah, yeah… don’t promise something that you are physically unable to keep. Anyway, I appreciate you waking up this early to help me with the work even after your long night, right?”

“Yup, it’s either that or the Sun sniping me straight to the face even through the closed blinds. You know that I can’t go back to sleep after waking up in the morning.” Daniel stands up and walks to their work laptop on the countertop, “So, how much work is there to be done today?”

“Not that much. For once I wouldn’t be mad at you for sleeping for too long. We only have three customers booked for today so as long as no one randomly walks in that should be all.” says Sean while pointing at the laptop, signalling Daniel to bring it to him.

“Okay, I’ll take a quick shower. I’m sweating already and I’m not even doing anything. When are we starting?” he levitates the laptop towards Sean with one hand and drinks some more coffee with the other. Although Daniel is not much of a gear head like their dad was or like Sean has become in the past years, he always tries to help in the workshop. Either by using his powers to move and lift stuff or by performing some basic repairs and service.

“Well, one car is already parked outside, and the other customers will bring theirs a bit later. But no need to hurry, those should be just some simple repairs, judging by the order list here.” Sean scrolls through their orders and notes for a bit and then turns to Daniel, “So, take your time… do whatever you need to do in there…” Sean says jokingly and quickly looks back at the display.

Daniel rolls his eyes, “Same jokes as usually. Can a teenager have his shower without the comments, please?” they always poke fun at each other now that Daniel is old enough to understand Sean’s adult humour, “We should get you a girlfriend… or a boyfriend for that matter.”

The older brother has just the answer for that, “Not with you cockblocking me since forever.” In reality it was not because of Daniel but simply because Sean has never tried finding a partner in Mexico. He thinks of it as an additional burden on him.

“Yeah, you know me… I can’t resist.” Daniel responds with a little chuckle as he heads towards the stairs. “And hey, don’t start without me. I’ll be back in a bit.” he says and runs back upstairs.

Since it’s extraordinarily early for Daniel to be awake and there is not that much work, Sean doesn’t need to rush either. He turns up the music a bit, kicks back and relaxes some more before the work starts.

*******

Life in Puerto Lobos hasn’t been completely easy for the wolf brothers. Although they’ve been doing well for quite some time now, the business is stable, and they are relatively safe for which most of the credit probably goes to Daniel’s powers, there is a gang that’s been causing them trouble lately…

Of course, the beginnings of their lives in Mexico were complicated to say the least. What do you do after crossing the border of a foreign country right after massacring at least a dozen of cops, being accused of previous crimes and on top of that becoming an illegal immigrant in the said country? You can’t just go and find a legal job, your little brother, no matter how happy that makes him, is unable to attend school and there are no friends or family you can go to for help. However, all that is something Sean was aware of and he knew the risks very well. After all, the little coastal town has been their goal from the very beginning. Following the carnage at the border, they drove further south, silently holding hands, without stopping, without looking back at what they had caused, running away from the actions of their past.

Upon arrival, as expected, they found their new home in ruins. Windows shattered, doors knocked down, there was not a single spot untagged or unsprayed, syringes and condom wrappers all over the place. Sean knew what to expect but looking at something like that was still crushing him. On the other hand, Daniel, after the initial shock, started to grow more and more excited. Excited to use his powers to clean up the mess and to restore the house, making it their own. Luckily for them, there was no one living inside as a small town like Puerto Lobos doesn’t really have homeless people, although they’ve definitely noticed some sketchy faces during the first weeks, scoping out the house that they’ve probably been using for their free time activities.

Having less than two thousand dollars, there was no way they could pay for the repairs and new furniture, so Sean started to very cautiously look for some unregistered work. In the meantime, they resorted to alternative ways of obtaining money. They didn’t want to be the bad guys that only live off of pickpocketing oblivious tourists and silently breaking into shops during the night using Daniel’s powers, so the decision was made to only continue doing that until they have repaired the house and got a decent living. They considered it a jump start for their new lives.

Sean eventually started helping in a car repair shop as an unreported worker in a city more than an hour of driving away. That meant leaving eleven-year-old Daniel alone at home, which simply wasn’t an option. So, he brought Daniel along. That way they could kill multiple birds with one stone. Sean has already been teaching him Spanish, but now Daniel could learn even more by being around locals and at the same time they both learned a lot about cars and how to fix them. The pay wasn’t great, and Sean couldn’t just simply ask for more as he officially did not even work there, but it was all worth it, because in situations like this the value of experience is immeasurable.

*******

“This one can now happily ride thousands of miles again.” Sean mutters from behind the car as he finishes inspecting it, “Dan, take the keys and back it up to the front, thanks… Oh, and also bring mom’s truck back inside.”

“On it!” shouts Daniel who is visibly excited for every opportunity to drive. So much in fact that he never uses his powers to do it as he does for almost everything else.

He parks the customer’s car in front of the house which has Diaz Repair Shop written in large letters on the restored facade. As he switches the cars to take Karen’s truck inside, he notices a guy staring at him a couple of houses away. The stranger realizes that Daniel is looking at him, swiftly turns his look away and continues to stand there. Daniel watches him for a few seconds, trying to look dominant with his intense stare, then he sits inside the car thinking about the possibilities of who could that be.

“Could it be a cop? There’s that gang we pissed off…” pissed off being an understatement here, “…perhaps a potential customer, definitely not a neighbour… or maybe just a tourist or one of those people that pop-in to Puerto Lobos for a month or two every year.” Daniel wonders as he drives the truck inside the garage.

“Sean? We aren’t expecting any more customers, are we?” asks Daniel and hands Sean the car keys.

“Umm, no, except for the lady coming back for her car. No more scheduled repairs, unless someone walks in randomly.”

“Well, there was a guy just down the street staring at me kinda suspiciously. Go to the window and look if he’s still there.”

Sean walks to the front window and tries to find the man who is nowhere to be seen. “Have you seen him before?” he asks.

“I don’t know, he turned away too quickly after I had spotted him, definitely not anybody I know from around.” Daniel thinks for a bit. “Look, I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, it could be anyone, but we’ve had some issues with that gang, so I just wanted to let you know.”

“I know, Daniel, I appreciate that.” Sean puts his hand around Daniel’s shoulder, “We are careful, and we can take care of ourselves. No fucking gang or cop is a match for your powers.”

Daniel scowls, “ _Oh, I dare them to step in our way. I’ll bring them hell._ ” the ground shakes ever so slightly as he says with a serious voice, a voice of someone who is not afraid, “ _We should just get rid of them all and be done with it._ ”

“I can feel the anger inside you, Daniel, but don’t let it get to you now.” anger being the last thing Daniel has trouble fully controlling even after all those years. He doesn’t go berserk anymore when he gets mad, but the power can be still felt in the air. “If it ever comes to that, you have to remember that you are strong but not invincible.” Sean reminds him. “We try to avoid any unnecessary conflicts, right?”

“Right, I hear you, Sean.” he looks at his brother with concerns and rage in his eyes, “I just… get so angry sometimes thinking about anyone trying to harm us after all the shit we’ve been through. We deserve our peace and not this… getting harassed by a gang of assholes because they think they are better than us.”

“I know, but starting a fight, no matter how one sided it would be, is not something we need right now.”

“You are right, Sean, I’m sorry. I promise I won’t do anything stupid.” Daniel adds with determined voice, “But when it comes to the worst… _I will go beyond limits to keep us safe_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are always welcome to notice me about any possible plotholes, irregularities, mistakes and errors.


	2. Pack Rivalry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter provides some background to brothers' conflict with the gang that we could see in the Blood Brothers ending scene.  
> The scene is canonically featured in this chapter but it has been extended with dialogs and minor details.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I don't speak Spanish and I don't want to butcher the language by translating from English, I have written Spanish dialogs in **bold**.  
> Both brothers now speak Spanish fluently so take this as their ability to easily switch between the languages.

_Puerto Lobos, 2023  
Later that day_

“Damn, so early in the morning and it’s already unbelievably hot in this car.”

“Chill out!” Daniel looks around the car to see if anyone has noticed his joke. “Just a few more minutes, guys. Be glad we are driving now and not later. Welcome to Arizona.”

After a little while they arrive at a camp in the middle of the desert. The welcome sign reads _Away._ As Sean pulls up the car next to an old caravan, there is a woman already waiting for them.

Daniel and Sean rocket out of the car. “Mom!”, they both shout and hug Karen with such power that could strangle a grown man. “We missed you.”

“Welcome back, my boys.” she says with a voice full of love.

Two other boys come out of the car and into the violent desert heat. They look at the trio and can’t help but smile.

Daniel immediately pulls Karen towards them and starts introducing, “Mom, these are my two best friends!” he sounds excited like never before. “This is Noah from Seattle. And this is Chris, we met in Beaver Creek.” he doesn’t even pause to breathe in, “Guys, this is Karen, our-”

“Daniel! Are you even listening?”

*******

“…he was getting a bit annoying, so I told him to try-” Sean suddenly stops talking and looks at Daniel who is staring at the table without blinking, visibly not mentally present. “Daniel! Are you even listening?” he grabs his shoulder.

“Oh…ummm, yeah…” Daniel snaps back to reality and tries to come up with an answer, “You told something… to someone…” He cringes as he realizes that was a poor attempt at answering and shakes his head instead, “Actually… no, I kinda missed some of that to be honest.”

“Heyyy, where is your dreamy head wondering?” Sean asks with a smile. “Share your thoughts with me.”

“I was just lost in my thoughts, but it’s nothing interesting. Go ahead, continue.”

“Nah, I’m sure it was better than the stuff I’ve been talking about. So, come on… are you not going to tell your big hermano?” he knows Daniel will tell him anyway, but he tries to convince him just in case.

Daniel thinks for a bit, trying to sort the little daydream in his head first, “Well, I imagined mom and then you and my old friends meeting her in Away.” He was out only for a few seconds, but the scene seemed longer in his head, “You were driving us there and she was expecting us. I started introducing Chris and Noah to her and… that’s basically it. Then you snapped me out of it, just a short dream.”

“Daniel…” Sean moves his chair next to Daniel, squeezing him closer by the shoulder, “I know you miss family and friends. I do too. I miss mom and Lyla and our grandparents, even the dirty hippies…” he pauses, “Dad.”

Daniel’s eyes widen. The word dad pierces through his head like a bullet. Esteban was not a part of his dream, it’s like his subconsciousness knows that he can never meet him again, so it tries not to show him an unrealistic picture. He wonders if that’s why Esteban wasn’t in the dream or if he is just a terrible son who forgot about their dad.

“It’s not that I’m sad, I just want to see them again, you know? Talk to them and explain all this shit.” If anything, Daniel gets mad every time he thinks about not being able to see the people he cares about. “They are the only thing I want here with us, then it would be a perfect life. We don’t have anybody here.”

Sean is quiet for a while, then he says with determined voice, “I am sure we will meet them again.” but he stops and lets out a sigh, “Well… but I can’t promise that, can I?”

“You are right, you can’t.” for a few seconds the room is filled with silence. “I bet they wouldn’t even recognize us… or want to see us in the first place. In their eyes we are probably just a couple of lowlife murderers like we are for the rest of the world.”

“ _Who cares about what the world thinks?_ ” Sean doesn’t stand down. “It’s what our loved ones think that matters and I can assure you they miss us the same way we miss them.”

Daniel shakes his head, “Sean, we haven’t been in contact with them at all. How can they miss us if they don’t even remember us? We’ve only sent one pathetic letter to each of them and even that was fucking years ago!”

“No, Daniel! People don’t just forget like that.” Sean raises his voice.

Daniel looks at Sean, takes a deep breath, words about to escape his mouth but then… he decides to gently nod instead. Sean was expecting a fight as _Daniel can get mad very quickly_. Although surprised, he accepts Daniel’s little peace offering and nods his head too and without a single word, they both agree that there is no point in starting an argument.

*******

One of the first things that the brothers have tried after arriving in Mexico was to find out if Esteban had any family in the area. They did not have many clues to start from. Well, they had nothing, to be precise. At first, they simply went from house to house and looked for the name Diaz. However, they came up short.

When asking locals, an elderly lady told them that she haven’t seen a Diaz in at least five years. Esteban came to the US more than twenty-five years ago, so if the lady was to be trusted, that meant his family still lived here for a long time after he had moved out. But where are they now? Have they moved out to a different part of Mexico? Are they still alive?

Four years ago, after the things had calmed down a bit, the brothers wrote some letters. Those were individually addressed to Karen, Lyla, Noah, Chris and the Reynolds. There was no response. And there couldn’t be any… that was the plan. The letters had been smuggled out of the country and into the US before being anonymously sent from a post office there.

When Sean and Daniel thought about people smuggling something over the border, the first things that came up to their mind were drugs, weapons, money or stolen stuff. But that was not their case. Not this time.

So, the brothers hired a smuggler who had contacts in the US. To their surprise getting letters over the border was nothing unusual for him. He laughed and said that he had smuggled things they couldn’t even think of, either weird or simply peculiar.

This choice was not to protect themselves but rather to try and protect the others from all the shit the cops would give them. If there was any chance of stopping the police from intercepting the letters and tracking them back to Sean and Daniel, they had to take it. Even if it meant sacrificing all hope of getting a response in the process.

Furthermore, the letters were written as vague as they could be so that any unintended recipient would have a hard time guessing what they were about or whom they were from. And that was all they could do, the letters had left their hands and then there was nothing. No confirmation, no checkmark indicating that they had been delivered and read, no response.

For all the brothers knew, the letters might have not even left the country, the smuggler might have taken their money and thrown the letters into the nearest trash bin, they might have been intercepted by the police or lost in transit. What if the people that they were intended for don’t even live at their old addresses anymore? What if the letters were simply left ignored or worse, misunderstood?

*******

After almost an argument, Sean stands up from the table and says, “Since we have nothing better to do, I’m going to clean up the garage a bit and perhaps do a check-up on mom’s car. You can come and join me.”

Daniel makes an unsure face, “Weeell… I’ll come with you, but I think I’ll continue reading your journal in the office and you can just holler at me if you need me, okay?” he responds and runs upstairs to get the journal.

“Yeah, fine.” Sean says as he watches Daniel run upstairs even before he had answered him. “I can see that you have decided for yourself anyway. Just don’t break your neck, please…”

It is late afternoon, but the Sun still has a good hour before it starts disappearing behind the Mexican waters. Sean turns on the stereo and instead of putting on the usual local radio, he plugs-in their USB stick full of his and Daniel’s favourite and definitely legally obtained music.

The older brother hums and sings, “…there’s a plastic treee, are you here with meee…” He walks around the workshop, doing random stuff just to keep himself occupied while Daniel sits on a table, reading the journal in their office directly connected to the garage.

Daniel hears the singing, “Maaan, how I used to hate your taste in music when we were younger.” he laughs. “Still not a fan of your singing, tho.”

“Oh, shut up. You know you want to hear my performance… you would be stuck listening to my music if you didn’t take a liking to it.” Sean jokes.

“You wish. Half of the songs on that USB are mine.” Daniel moves his head to the beat.

The song has barely time to end when Sean suddenly stops the music. He looks at the half-open garage door and sees multiple pairs of shoes coming towards it.

He watches for a moment and then asks in Spanish, “ **How can we help you?** ” but instead of getting an answer three strangers duck under the door and enter the garage. “Shit!” he says as he immediately realizes that the strangers are definitely not their new customers.

The group starts walking towards Sean, one of them pulls out a pistol and aims it at him, “ **So, Diaz… how’s business?** ” he asks in a mocking voice.

Staring down the gun barrel Sean answers, “ **It’s not a wise idea for you to be here.** ” he puts his hands in the air and begins to slowly advance to the back of the garage so that Daniel can see him from the office. His body is already pumping out loads of adrenaline, but he is not afraid.

“ **Oh, you think you’re tough? Those are some strong words, considering it’s only you and your brother.** ” they seem already familiar with the brothers’ situation.

Daniel hears the voices and looks towards the garage where he sees Sean backing up with his hands risen. “No!” he utters angrily, jumps to his feet and quickly walks towards them. As soon as he gets in a direct line of sight with them, he easily sets two of the assholes flying through the air with a simple twitch of his head.

Confused, the remaining one watches his friends being thrown away. Not knowing what’s happening, he aims at Daniel who approaches him. He tries to shoot but finds himself unable to as Daniel already has a hold of his trigger finger. Suddenly he feels excruciating pain as his right arm gets violently twisted by an unknown force. Terrified and in pain, staring into Sean’s eyes, he senses his feet leaving the ground as he starts levitating, unable to speak nor move.

Both brothers look at him directly to make sure he will remember their faces. “ **So, who’s tough now?** ” Sean asks with an increasing smirk on his face.

Daniel holds him in the air for a few seconds and then throws him through the garage, the gun slipping out of his hand and dropping on the ground in the process.

“ ** _Step in our way once more and we will be the last fucking thing you’ll ever see!_** ” Daniel shouts, full of anger, his power can still be sensed lingering in the air. When he’s mad, the power gives people around him a feeling of uneasiness, a strange sensation that flows through the whole body.

“ **Wh… what is this?** ” one of the strangers screams while helping his friends on their feet.

“ **Next time you are not walking out of here.** ” Sean threatens them.

Staggering, they all burst out of there, petrified and broken. The brothers wait for a moment in case any of them returned or more showed up.

“They would have to be seriously dumb to come back now.” Sean says and taps his brother on the shoulder “Thanks, Daniel.”

“You okay, bro?”

“Perfectly fine.” Sean responds with a smile and bends down for the pistol laying on the ground. “Not that we need another one, but hey, you can’t have enough guns with these people.”

Daniel stands with his arms crossed and watches Sean put the pistol into a briefcase. “Sooo… I guess there’s no point in asking who they were.”

“Nope, we both know very well.” Sean opens the safe in the office, stacks of cash almost spewing out. There is a red cape with the letters CS painted on it, gently folded on top of the cash mountain. It’s one of their ‘souvenirs’ from their life before Mexico.

The cape belonged, or perhaps still belongs, to Chris Eriksen, Daniel’s friend who he had too little time to get to know better. Chris gave it to him before their unexpected farewell more than six years ago and Daniel has been keeping it safe since then.

Sean places the briefcase in the little free space there is still left and shuts the safe. Meanwhile Daniel walks out through the back door and calls for his brother, “Sean, come outside! Let’s have a beer, we need to talk.”

*******

They’ve both been on lookout lately, but mainly Daniel as this was not their first encounter with these people. They knew about the gangs of Mexico even before their arrival but thought that surely a small town like Puerto Lobos wouldn’t have any. And it doesn’t. Or at least not directly in the town.

There is a gang called Los Caninos that operates in the region, their centre being in the same city where Sean used to work, with smaller hideouts scattered throughout the neighbouring towns. They get their money mainly from terrorizing local business owners and of course drug sales. It is not a huge gang, but definitely not a small one either, ordinary people wouldn’t think for a second about messing with them. But the Diaz brothers are not ordinary people, they can afford to say no.

When Sean and Daniel started the business, their shop was unknown at first, with only a few customers per week. As their popularity in the area began to grow, they had eventually showed up on the gang’s radar as a potential additional source of income. A few members came knocking on their door, demanding a cut of the profits. From his numerous discussions with locals, Sean pretty much knew this was only a matter of time.

When the day had come, he insisted on Daniel not revealing his powers yet as he wanted to keep it a moment of surprise for when the need to use the powers arose in the future. The brothers had refused which, of course, did not sit well with the gangsters. They’ve left eventually but not before promising to return and leaving several warning signs on the house. This intimidation continued for quite some time, going as far as breaking their windows, following the brothers on the street and threatening them in public in broad daylight. It was about a month ago when the shit went seriously down.

Two thugs had followed Sean and Daniel. Coming from behind, they whacked Sean with a gun. Daniel turned around, immediately pushing them away with his powers and preventively creating an invisible barrier. Confused, the gangsters aimed their guns and started shooting. Dazed Sean picked himself up and pulled out a pistol too. While Daniel was focusing on the semipermeable shield, his older brother put a couple of shots through it. Soon, the two gangsters ran out of ammo and Daniel, enraged, then furiously exploded at them with such force that only their motionless bodies fell to the ground.

The lack of witnesses made the whole incident look like a shootout between two gangs. Sean and Daniel ran away before anybody had arrived and the cops were left without a clue about who was responsible for the two dead bodies found. However, Los Caninos knew very well...

*******

Sean joins Daniel on the concrete terrace leading directly onto a beach, just meters from the ocean. They sit down facing the water and open a can of beer each.

“Exciting day, isn’t it?” Daniel asks sarcastically and shakes his head in disbelief. “Fuckers…”

“So, the guy watching you, from earlier… was it one of them?” Sean wonders.

“Yup, definitely. Probably even the one with the gun if I remember him correctly. Who knows for how long they’ve been scoping us out.” Daniel takes a sip from the can and continues, “ _Should have just snapped his neck instead of his arm._ ”

“Well… and maybe he would have deserved it. He did not hesitate to try pulling the trigger.” Sean pauses and looks at the ground with an empty stare, “If I had lost you…”

“Yeah…” Daniel sighs. “That was scary. For a while I wasn’t sure if I had him under control.”

“I know how it feels. Doubting yourself in the most crucial moments… I’ve been there.” Sean takes out a cigarette and an old lighter with Puerto Lobos coat-of-arms engraved into it. It’s Esteban’s lighter that Sean has been using for years and long before Mexico. It is the only thing they’ve got left of his. He lights the cigarette and reassures his little brother, “Daniel, I believe in you. You did great.”

Daniel smiles, “Thanks, Sean. It’s only because you kept a cool head.” The brothers place their hands on each other’s shoulders and stay quiet for a moment, letting the waves speak.

“Now that they’ve seen my powers, they must know something’s up.” Daniel assumes.

“Yeah, but they have no idea what happened or which one of us did it.”

“Still, they might come after us even harder now.”

“I don’t know.” Sean admits. “They have one more reason to stay away, but also one more reason to kill us.” he thinks for a second and says, “I see two options now…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are always welcome to notice me about any possible plotholes, irregularities, mistakes and errors.


	3. A Long Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean and Daniel have different ideas of how to deal with their current situation. But this night might help them decide.

_Puerto Lobos, 2023  
2 days later_

Sean exits his room and heads to the stairs leading down to the kitchen. As he passes Daniel’s room, he notices a faint light coming through the gap created by the slightly open door. As usually, in the middle of the night, the light is being produced by his younger brother’s laptop. Daniel never leaves his door open so Sean wonders if he is in the room.

He comes closer to the door and whispers, “Dan?” After a few seconds without an answer he tries again, but a bit louder this time, “Daniel?”. Nothing. Sean shrugs his shoulders and continues walking down the hall. He doesn’t bother checking Daniel’s room, the last thing he needs is catching the teenager doing something Sean has no need of seeing.

Stepping on the last few stairs, he finds his answer. The dark room is lit only by the light of the open refrigerator. Daniel is standing there, holding onto the door, his head stuck deep in the appliance like he’s desperately digging for any of the remaining enchiladas they had yesterday.

The low buzzing noise from the fridge turns into a rock concert during the night and Sean spots an opportunity to sneak-in on unsuspecting Daniel, who is surely taking his time looking for something to eat. With a smirk on his face, he slowly creeps up to his brother and asks casually, “Found something?”

“Argh…oh…fucking shit!” Daniel gets startled, banging his head on the upper shelf. “Can you not scare a man like that? Especially a one with a superpower? I thought you were asleep.”

Sean’s smirk turns into a wide smile. “Well, thanks for not throwing that fridge at me.” he says jokingly. “I was asleep, but I woke up thirsty, so here I am. While you are searching for the lost treasure, can you pass me my chilled water bottle? What are you doing here at this hour anyway?”

Daniel takes out the bottle and also grabs a carton of milk. “Umm…what do you mean? The night is still young. I’m just looking for something to eat.”

Sean looks at the carton, “So you’ve decided to go for some Skweekinax?”

“Yeah, more like Fakeeinax…it’s just not the same.” Daniel is always bummed out that his favourite cereal is nowhere to be found in any store.

“Well, close enough…” Sean nods. Skweekinax also used to be his favourite cereal. “Alright, you do you. I guess there’s no point in telling you to go to sleep, so…you have fun through the night.” he heads for the stairs, ready to crash hard again.

Daniel watches his brother for a second and then he suddenly calls, “Sean?”

The older brother stops in his steps and turns around. From Daniel’s voice he feels that he wants to talk about something important.

“You know… I’ve been thinking about what you’ve told me the other day. You really think we should simply leave everything we have here and move to a different part of Mexico?” ‘Run’ would be a more appropriate word than ‘move’ here, but Daniel doesn’t really want to use the word.

Sean locates Daniel in the darkness, they can only see each other because their eyes had already adjusted to it, “Yes, I think that would be the wise choice.” he says determined.

“But what about the other option?” Daniel fiddles his fingers, thoughts running through his mind. “I could take them.”

“And then what? You kill dozens of people and then we return here to live a ‘peaceful’ life, not knowing if there’s more of them waiting for every opportunity to kill us? That is if we would survive in the first place. What’s the point in fighting a whole gang? If that wouldn’t get us both killed, then one of us for sure.” Sean pauses, letting Daniel think, “And you know who that would be…”

“No one is dying, I’ll protect you. I’ll protect us both.” Daniel’s fearless words flow through the air. “Did we surrender 6 years ago? No. We fought and won. Those were not just some pitiful gangsters but a full-blown cop squad and we still crushed them, Sean.”

“You think it’s that simple? Murdering everyone without any consequences or repercussions? They would all deserve it, I couldn’t care less about them, but that’s not the way to resolve this, we need to think about our safety now. Cops get involved and we are back where we started and everything we went through would be for nothing.” Sean tries to talk some sense into Daniel. “Okay, fine…you wanna wipe out a whole gang? Go for it, but you can’t get rid of the whole Mexico police force and army. They wouldn’t let us breathe for a single second.”

Silence fills the room, darkness accompanying it hand-in-hand. The atmosphere gets thick.

Daniel sighs and runs his palms over his face, “So? What is your plan then?”

Sean comes closer and stands next to Daniel. “We can go to the city later today, get supplies and talk to some contacts. We’ve got enough cash for a long time, so money is not a concern. We’ll look for a nice temporary accommodation while we figure out something permanent. Fuck, we can even do a road trip! Travel around Mexico and choose the place we like the most as our new home.”

The kitchen remains quiet once again, Daniel doesn’t answer. However excited Sean tries to sound, his younger brother is not buying it.

“So, what do you think?” Sean asks, breaking the silence.

“Yeah…what I hear is that you have no idea of where to go or what to do.”

“Oh, come on… Do you think I want to leave? We’ve lived here for six years, we’ve built a business for ourselves. Do you think I want to leave it all here? I don’t, but I also won’t give them enough time for another attempt to hurt us or kill us. This is for our safety. We are set, Daniel. If we wanted, we could leave tomorrow and go wherever we please.”

Daniel shakes his head, it takes him a few second before he answers, “Go back to sleep, Sean…”

Sean sighs and without a word he walks away, stopping before ascending the stairs. He doesn’t turn to Daniel but says, “Just…think about it. That’s all I ask of you.”

Left alone in the room, Daniel stays there, leaning on the countertop. He looks blankly into the nothingness, thinking about the uncertainty of tomorrow.

“Huh, for our safety… I am our safety.” he whispers. “This was supposed to be our final destination. Now we are about to run again. Is this what our lives had become? Just a cycle of running and searching for a home?”

He has no idea why it is so hard for him to simply accept that they will have to leave eventually. Is his confidence in the powers just blinding him? Is he fuelled by hatred? By everything this world has done to them? Perhaps it’s all of that, creating a dangerous mixture, like playing with chemicals that should never be combined. The only inhibitor being his love for Sean. But sometimes it is love that triggers the reaction.

Sean returns to his room, not feeling tired anymore. The only thing he can concentrate on is the plan for their future. “Maybe Daniel was right. I don’t really know where to go. Road trip… Did I really say road trip?” he hits himself on the forehead. “Good fucking job, Sean, that will convince an angry teenager for sure. But we can’t stay here. All we need is a few days to plan everything out.”

He lies down but with the thoughts eating him from inside, falling asleep is impossible now. Sean turns on his lamp and walks to a shelf opposite his bed. Two books are standing on the otherwise empty piece of wood mounted to the wall. It’s the two journals, the old one and the new one. He grabs them both, one for drawing and the other for inspiration, together with a pencil.

Daniel walks up the stairs with a bowl in his hand, chocolate cereals almost spewing out. He spots the light coming out of his brother’s room and whispers, “Don’t worry, bro.” before entering his own room. His laptop since went into sleep, but Daniel doesn’t bother waking it up yet. He opens the windows, sits on his bed and watches the night sky instead while enjoying his cereals.

A bit later Sean finishes his drawing of him and Daniel as wolves standing in front of two paths. He drew a similar picture in his old journal but this one is different in several aspects. He drew a pack of hungry dogs lurking behind them, ready to attack. Only one path seems to lead away as the second one loops around and ends up bringing them back, but not before having to confront the dogs. Which one will they pick Sean doesn’t know, but with his mind clearer now, he lies down and finally manages to drift asleep.

Daniel is back in his nightly routine which comprises of either playing games, reading, or watching movies and series. Today it’s the last option. With headphones on his head he’s re-watching one of his favourite series and the plan of going to sleep has been postponed indefinitely.

*******

_Later that night…_

_She’s our friend and she’s crazy! You come back and she’ll kill you!_

Daniel is on his third episode of Stranger Things this night. Eleven, with her powers, reminds him of himself. Of course, Daniel can’t walk through a different dimension or connect with other people only using his mind, but his telekinesis is not just a fiction, it is very much real.

He pauses the episode and heads for the bathroom. When leaving his room, he hears a noise coming from downstairs, like someone is walking there. He stops and listens, his heartrate skyrockets. “There is no way…” he thinks for himself while approaching the stairwell. Daniel leans around the corner and spots a person in black walking upstairs.

The situation escalates from zero to hundred in an instant. He immediately grabs the unwanted visitor with his powers and pins them to the wall. Sean is woken up by the sound and force of the impact. “SEAN!” Daniel screams.

“ **Help! He got me!** ” a male voice scared to death shouts in Spanish.

Multiple voices can be heard from downstairs “ **Out!** ” “ **They know about us!** ” “ **Run!** ” they all shout over each other in panic.

Seconds later, Sean bursts out of his room with a gun already in hand, only wearing his shorts. “Daniel! What’s happening?”

“It’s those fuckers! I got one pinned down but there’s more of them. Cover the stairs while I move him over here.”

The guy levitates towards the brothers. Daniel meanwhile also flips the light switch downstairs so Sean can see better and shoot if needed. He moves the gangster around the corner into the hall and holds him in the air. Their eyes meet, Daniel’s rage collides with the horror of the other as he starts choking him with his mind.

Sean hears him running out of breath and turns to Daniel. “STOP!”

“NO!” Daniel responds harshly.

“DANIEL, STOP! YOU HEAR ME?” Sean pushes his little brother, who staggers and loses focus, dropping the gangster to the ground.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“He’s not a threat anymore! Look, he doesn’t even have a gun.”

“I bet he would gladly use any opportunity to-”

Daniel gets interrupted, as the man on the ground catches his breath, “ **P-- Please, let me go.** ”

The brothers look at him, Daniel extends his arm and says, “Go ahead. At least knock him out so we can take care of the others.”

Sean nods, comes closer to the stranger and says “ **It’s for your own good.** **Sorry…** ”

“ **No. No. No.** ” he tries to stop him before getting knocked out with one well-aimed punch.

Daniel shakes his head, “Good, now aim your gun and I’ll make a shield. We’ll go check downstairs.”

They both carefully descend the stairs and look around, but there’s no one to be seen. After checking the rest of the house and not finding anyone, Sean quickly peeks outside. The situation is no different there, not a soul in sight.

He looks at the front door with a broken lock. “Daniel, block the door with that cupboard so they can’t return without us hearing them.”

Daniel does just that, the cupboard creeks and rumbles as it gets moved. He exhales deeply, “Fuuuck. Can you believe all this shit?” he asks rhetorically.

Sean taps Daniel on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s get back to that one.” he points upwards.

First thing they do is search the gangster for any weapons and items. All they can find is a small knife. Sean stands up and takes a good look, shaking his head in disbelief, “Just look at him. He’s no older than you…and you almost killed him.”

Daniel scowls, “Oh, yeah? I bet he would enjoy slitting our throats… Why do you even suddenly care about people like him?”

Sean doesn’t answer the question. All he sees is a young boy who probably risks getting himself killed every day just to get acknowledged by Los Caninos. He doesn’t have any visible tattoos and looks nothing like a thug. In fact, he reminds him of the other young boy in this room. What if Daniel ended up like this and Sean wouldn’t know what happened to him? Chills run over his body just thinking about it.

“He doesn’t even look like the type that could do it. The others probably sent him as a bait, and they all ran at the first sign of trouble. Fucking cowards… It was just a matter of time before they would try to get rid of us while we sleep.” Sean assesses.

“What do you want to do with him now?”

“We’ll wait until he wakes up. Then I will talk to him.” Sean gives Daniel a long stare. He completely takes control over the situation. “Not YOU. ME. Are we clear?”

Daniel closes his eyes so his older brother can no longer stare directly into his soul and says, “I guess…”

“That’s not an answer. I don’t need any more of your rage now, so cut it!”

“Geez, okay. Someone has pissed in your coffee or what?” Daniel glimpses at Sean who gives him the death stare.

“Do you not realize in what situation we are right now?”

The teenager looks to the ground, staring at his bare feet. He feels dominated like when Esteban used to yell at them back when they were just a pair of stupid kids. He sighs, “So, are you going to like…interrogate him mafia style?”

Sean is caught off guard, “What? No. I’m going to have a conversation with him, maybe get some information. When I say, and ONLY when I say…you can intimidate him with your powers. But that’s it. If you fucking hurt him…”

“I won’t do anything stupid.” Daniel declares.

“I’m glad that’s clear to you. Now, let’s move him.”

They relocate the unconscious boy into their living room, which is directly opposite of Daniel’s room. Sean brings some water and sits next to him. While they both wait, Daniel stands at the window, looking outside, thinking about why they are wasting time with this guy.

Minutes later, the stranger starts to move. Sean and Daniel get on high alert, not knowing what to expect. He opens his eyes and looks around. “ **Please…just…don’t kill me.** ” is the first thing he says with a frightened voice.

Sean turns to the boy and says calmly, “ **Don’t worry, nobody is getting killed.** ”

“ **Yet.** ” Daniel comments.

“MAN SHUT UP! What THE FUCK did I tell you?” Sean snaps at his brother who only now finally seems to understand that this situation is not to be taken lightly. Daniel crosses his arms and moves to the side without a word. Sean turns back and continues, “ **Don’t mind that edgy teenager. I just want to talk.** ”

“ **Don’t hurt me, please. I don’t know anything, I’m new to the gang. They haven't told me shit.** ”

“ **Hurt you? If I wanted to hurt you, you wouldn’t be laying on a comfy sofa with a pillow underneath your head. Don’t you think?** ” Sean comforts him.

He doesn’t answer, only nods slightly, constantly eyeing out both brothers.

“ **Although** **I’m sorry about that.** ” Sean points at the growing black eye on the boy’s face. “ **We had to make sure you wouldn’t run. Sit up and drink some water. What’s your name?** ” he asks.

“ **Marco. The name’s Marco.** ” He sits and glimpses at Daniel who stands there with his arms crossed, giving him a terrifying look.

“ **Shit, how old are you?** ” Daniel suddenly asks and Sean surprisingly doesn’t intervene as he wanted to ask the same question anyway.

Marco hesitates a bit, but Sean confirms with a slow nod that he’s also waiting for an answer. “ **Sixteen. I’m turning seventeen in a few weeks.** ”

“ **To be honest, kid…this way you won’t be.** ” Sean warns him. “ **Be glad I stopped him before he choked you to death. Some of your ‘colleagues’ weren’t so lucky in the past.** ”

Marco’s eyes widen, he remembers what felt like being held in the air by a sheer power of will, “ **What…what even was that? It felt like I was--** ”

“ **It’s me who’s asking now, okay?** ” Sean interrupts him to which Marco simply nods. He really isn’t in the position to be asking question. “ **You said you are new, so for how long you’ve been with them?** ”

“ **Barely a month.** ”

“ **Did they send you to kill us?** ”

“ **No, not me specifically. But the others were probably going to do it. They said it’s only you two and sent me upstairs to check it out.** ” Marco answers without hesitation.

“ **And what did they tell you about us?** ”

“ **That one of you is Daniel and the other one is Sean, you are the Diaz brothers. That you have some business here, that you are high value targets and that it’s just you two working alone.** ”

“ **So, they didn’t tell you about any dangers…** ” Sean turns to Daniel. “You see? That’s how these gangs work. They throw a kid as a bait and simply don’t care. If he dies, he dies. And if he’s lucky enough to survive enough times, then he can raise in the ranks.” He looks back at Marco and says, “ **Well, now you know why they all ran, right? They knew but didn’t tell you. It might be just the two of us, but we are not an easy target and Los Caninos knows it very well.** ”

Marco is quiet for a second, he’s still scared to death. A tear runs down his cheek, “ **I… It’s not like I want this. But there’s no other option for me now.** ”

Daniel looks at his big brother and says, “Sean? What are we going to do with him?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are always welcome to notice me about any possible plotholes, irregularities, mistakes and errors.


	4. Changing Course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the plans to move far away to a different part of Mexico, the brothers have some things to take care of first while still having to deal with Marco. But their enemies won't let them escape that easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spanish speaking parts are no longer highlighted as it could be distracting in this chapter. Assume Sean and Daniel switch between English and Spanish as needed.

_Puerto Lobos, 2023  
Later that morning_

The Sun is already up but the living room remains dark. The window blinds are shut, and the door has been locked for hours. It is quiet at the Diaz household, but it’s not the kind of silence you would expect… It is awkward silence.

Sean and Daniel still have their ‘visitor’ with them, who they’ve been talking to the whole night, trying to get as much information as possible. Well, Sean did most of the talking as Daniel holds a special grudge against people like Marco. The only problem is that Marco has been with the gang only for a few weeks, so he’s definitely not the right person to spill out Los Caninos’ biggest secrets. Not that it matters anyway. After the last night’s attack, the decision has been made to leave Puerto Lobos and this part of Mexico altogether. The sooner the better, preferably even today.

Sean later questioned Marco about his life. Why is he a gang member at his age? Why is he a gang member if he clearly doesn’t want to do it? Why would he risk getting killed every day? Turns out Marco really doesn’t have other choices. He spent last six years in an orphanage. His mom died years ago, when he was only seven, and his dad simply abandoned him which resulted in him having to grow up alone. His nine years older brother and sister left to look for work to secure at least some future for all three of them and promised that they would return for Marco when he turns eighteen. But he couldn’t take it anymore and escaped the orphanage. The easiest thing for him to do for survival was to join a gang. Ironically, that’s what almost got him killed last night.

Sean fell asleep on the armchair, Marco, still feeling uncomfortable, is sitting on the sofa while Daniel keeps an eye on him, walking around with his arms crossed, trying to look dominant in front of his peer. The silence keeps getting more and more unbearable every second. Marco tries not to look at Daniel too much, so he just simply stares at the ground most of the time. However, he occasionally glimpses at him to see what he’s doing. He picks up his head once more and that’s when Daniel notices it.

“Shit!” Marco thinks to himself. “I…” he tries to say something to break the silence.

Daniel stops walking around and waits for anything Marco has to say.

“I think you could let me go now, right?”

Daniel closes his eyes while taking a deep breath and says, “Right, so you can run back to your friends and call the whole gang here?”

Marco shakes his head, “Like I want to go back to them…”

“You said you don’t have a choice, so do you?”

Marco stays quiet for a moment and then asks, “When are you going to let me go? You don’t need me here anymore.”

“You heard him…” Daniel nods towards sleeping Sean, “You’ll have to come with us while we take care of some things in the city. Then we’ll return here and after that we will be on our way to who knows where. And that’s when we’ll drop you off. Somewhere, where you won’t have enough time to return from before we are long gone.”

“That’s a bit excessive, don’t you think?”

“Excessive is keeping you here when I could have easily taken care of you back then. So, don’t push your luck.”

Marco gets startled, “Okay, okay. Pretend that I haven’t said anything.” He pauses for a second and then collects enough courage to ask, “Can I at least use the bathroom?”

“Really?” Daniel rolls his eyes.

“Well, yeah. We’ve been barricaded here for hours.”

“You know that I’ll have to guard you, right?”

“I’m aware.”

Daniel sighs, “Fine but try anything stupid and this time my brother won’t be there to save you from me.”

Of course, at some point Marco thought about using this as an opportunity to escape, but why would he risk it? Especially if Sean has been really nice to him so far. He knows that Daniel is only playing tough to assert dominance. Don’t get him wrong, he is still terrified of the mysterious power which is the main reason why he won’t try to escape, but he also knows that Daniel is under the control of his big brother.

*******

They return to the living room, Marco sits back at his previous spot and Daniel finally sits down too, on the armchair directly opposite of him. Sean is still asleep, just in a slightly different position. It is pretty early in the morning, so they have to wait for a later hour to be able to sort the matters in the city. In the meantime, Daniel reaches under the table for an outdated newspaper to read just to keep himself busy. Marco is back in the routine of switching between looking around and staring at the ground.

“You are Daniel, right?” the boy breaks the silence once again in an attempt to befriend Daniel to perhaps make him seem less intimidating.

The teenager looks up from the newspaper and says, “Maybe…and maybe not. Why?”

“I know your names; I just don’t know who is who.”

“Uh huh, cool.” Daniel replies seemingly uninterested.

This is going to be harder than Marco thought. Maybe if he tried asking about the mysterious power, he could get Daniel to show it off and perhaps even talk about it. “Umm…I know there’s something up with you. That…weird levitation thing before. What even was that?”

“Wow…great observation.” Daniel answers sarcastically. “Yeah, that was me.”

“But how is that possible? How do you do it?”

“It’s…a thing I can do. All I need to do is concentrate.”

“So, you can move shit simply with your mind?” Marco is visibly intrigued. “Can you show me?”

“You want me to choke you again?”

Marco doesn’t say anything. The frightened look in his eyes speaks for itself. With that, Daniel has finally seen enough to know that Marco is well aware of the strength of his powers and that he is in no position to try anything stupid. He stops playing tough for the first time in hours and comforts Marco instead, “Dude, I’m just fucking with you. I’ll show you, watch.” he points towards the window. The blinds suddenly roll up and let in a blinding amount of sunlight. Sean starts to move a little when the light hits him.

“If you haven’t levitated me before I wouldn’t believe this. That’s…awesome.” Marco’s eyes glow with excitement, the fear has completely disappeared from them. “No wonder they all ran. I wouldn’t want to fight against something invisible either.”

Seeing Marco get fascinated invokes a certain feeling in Daniel. He had seen that face before. Just on a younger kid. A kid who he had once tricked into thinking that it was them who had the powers.

Marco gets more and more curious, “Can you do this since birth? What else can you do?” he asks.

“No, not since birth. You know…it’s a really long story.”

“Since he was nine.” A third voice joins the conversation. “I see that you two are bonding.” Sean smiles.

“No. Not…not bonding.” Daniel swiftly answers. “It was just too quiet, so we’ve talked a bit.”

“Uh huh, I see. Sorry that I fell asleep, I’m not really a night person.” Sean says while looking at Marco. “What’s the time anyway?”

“It’s past six.” Daniel answers.

“Right. We need to pack at least some of the things before we leave for the city and we’ll take care of the rest later.” Sean points at Marco, “We still need to guard you, so you’ll stay with me while I round up the stuff we need to take.”

“Yeah, sure.” Marco answers.

Sean doesn’t waste any time, “Come on, let’s get started so we can get out at around seven. Daniel, you go and get everything you need from your room. I’ll go to the garage and the office.” He turns to Marco and says, “You’ll come with me.”

They enter the hallway, about to split their paths. Daniel stops on the doorstep to his room and says, “Hey, Marco! You guessed correctly.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am Daniel.” and with a little smile Daniel enters his room.

*******

“A toolbox, some additional tools in case our car breaks down, a bottle of motor oil…” Sean names all the things he puts aside to take with them. “I hope he wasn’t giving you a hard time while I was asleep.”

“Oh, your brother? Well, no. But I wouldn’t want to anger him, that’s for sure.” Marco says.

“I get you, he can be scary sometimes, but he just wants to protect us. Your friends have been more and more aggressive lately and his powers have saved us on multiple occasions.”

“Yeah, about that… You mentioned it started when he was nine?”

“Yes, back in the US. We don’t know if he had them before, but his powers are the reason why we came to Mexico in the first place. But that’s a story I have no time to tell you.” Sean says while walking around the garage, looking for anything useful.

“So…you are definitely leaving? Do you know your destination?”

“Away.” Sean chuckles at that word. Maybe they could find their own Away, like Karen did and live far from everyone and everything, but that remains to be seen. He returns to reality and continues, “But no, I don’t know yet. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. Your gang would be after us again in a week.”

“Throwing me like a bait…fuck them.” Marco answers angrily. “You two at least showed mercy and sympathy and that’s more than they ever did.”

“That’s how it is. Getting involved with them is not the best way to survive. Sooner or later, you will get yourself killed.” Sean moves to the office and Marco quietly follows him. He starts loading a bag with important stuff. Their work laptop, various papers and documents and all of the ‘souvenirs’ from their old life of which most are toys. A doll that Daniel shamelessly stole from a man who helped them, two toys Chris gave them, an old yo-yo, a guitar pick from a girl he once knew and many more. While going through the office, Sean suddenly asks, “What are you going to do now?”

Marco, who was deep in his thoughts, is caught off-guard, “Oh…I will have to return to them for now. It’s not like I have an option. But I will try to leave as soon as possible.”

“If you won’t get killed before it comes to that.” Sean tries to be realistic.

“Hey bro, I’m done.” Daniel comes from the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m almost done here too. I will grab my personal things from my room later; I don’t have much to take anyway.” Sean answers. He looks at the safe in the corner and says, “And Daniel, I will need your help with something here after we return.”

*******

_The City of Caborca  
Two hours later_

The brothers and Marco are on their way from a large store where they have bought supplies that should last them for at least a week or two of constant driving. It is quiet in the car, no radio, and no words. Daniel drives through the desert city, following the usual way home. Marco lays on the backseat and tries to keep his head down at all times, so he won’t get recognized by any of his fellow gang members. He’s already coming up with a story about his escape that would sound credible enough, so that the gang won’t get suspicious. Being spotted riding in a car with an enemy wouldn’t really help his case.

“Turn left on the next light, Dan.” Sean says suddenly.

“Why? I thought we were going home.”

“There’s still one thing I need to take care of.”

Daniel does as he is told, and Sean continues to navigate him through the streets for about ten more minutes. Marco starts getting nervous as they drive deeper and deeper to the suburban parts of the city. They pass by houses that all look the same and it seems like they are going in circles, but Sean knows exactly where he’s headed. They finally arrive at a house on a narrow street that looks no different than the other ones around. Sean looks at Daniel and Marco, who both seem a bit confused and the later one even scared. “You both stay here and wait for me while I deal with this.” he says.

“What are we even doing here?” Daniel asks.

“I had some things get arranged for us, so I need to take care of that before we leave. I’ll tell you more later.” Sean exits the car and leans back through the window before he leaves, “Move the car a couple of houses down the street, you shouldn’t park right in front of this one.”

Daniel looks at Marco and shrugs, “Don’t even ask me, I don’t know what he’s up to. But this looks like a sketchy part of the city, so stay down.”

“Yeah, I know it here, there’s one of our hideouts not that far away. That’s why I got nervous.” Marco says. “And as far as I know, this guy can get you any kind of illegal paperwork if the price is right.” he points at the house Sean has just entered.

“So that’s his big plan? Fake identity? He must have had that arranged quite some time ago, even before we decided to leave. Even before he asked me if I wanted to leave. He would make us leave no matter what my opinion was.” Daniel shakes his head.

“And what? Are you going to be mad at him? He was prepared exactly for this because he knew this day would come.” Marco reasons with him.

“Yeah, whatever.” Daniel taps the steering wheel while looking around for anything suspicious. Suddenly he gets a déjà vu when he spots a man in the distance, staring at him. A car then pulls up not far from the man and Daniel sees another car behind them in the mirror. He gets on high alert. “Hey, two cars just pulled up on this street at the same time and there’s a dude staring.” he informs Marco and turns to him, “If those are your people and you somehow tipped them off…” Daniel says with a threatening tone.

“What? Fuck that, I did not tell anyone!” Marco raises his voice at Daniel. “Look, I can peek a little and see if I can identify the cars or something.”

“Do it, quickly!” Daniel urges.

Marco peeks from behind the seat as little as he possibly can and catches a glimpse of one of the cars. “No, I’ve never seen a car like that used by our people.” he says and thinks for a second, “I don’t know, could be cops. Or they could be Los Caninos with cops, it wouldn’t be the first time they bribed them and teamed up with them.”

“Fuck! Where is he?” Daniel says. Two people exit each car, but at least two more can still be seen inside. They all have guns and start slowly advancing towards them. “Shit! They are coming! I need to go and get Sean.” Daniel looks at Marco, “Do you know how to drive a car?”

“I’ve never drove one before, but I’ve seen how it’s done.”

“That will have to do. I’ll reverse back to that house and get out. Meanwhile you’ll get behind the wheel and wait for us.” Daniel stares directly into his peer’s eyes. “Is that clear?”

A little nod is all that terrified Marco can do.

“Don’t you dare try anything stupid like running! It would be a very short-lived trip. If they won’t kill you, then I will personally make sure you won’t see the light of the next day.”

“I won’t do anything stupid!”

Daniel starts backing up and tells Marco to get ready. Now that they’ve seen Daniel moving the car, the unknown people advance faster. Daniel stops and shouts, “NOW!” He bursts out of the car and runs towards the house Sean is in. Their pursuers start running. They are now less than a hundred meters away. Daniel shouts and tries calling for Sean. “Fuck it! There’s no time for this.” he says and with one movement of his hand the front door gets completely destroyed, taking a part of the walls with it. “SEAN! THEY ARE AFTER US!”

Marco yells from the car “HURRY! ALMOST HERE!”

That’s when Sean comes out to what used to be the front part of the house. “Daniel? What is happening?”

But his little brother has no time to explain, “Run to the car! NOW!” he shouts.

Because the small front area of the house is covered by tall fences from both sides, they have no direct line of sight to what’s happening on the street. They both start running. Marco can be heard yelling but together with other voices it all becomes just a garbled mess of unintelligible sounds. He leans back to open the rear door so Sean and Daniel can easily jump in. But that won’t be possible anymore. Arriving at the street level, they see them. At least six armed men, no more than ten meters away, coming from both sides.

That’s when they can finally understand what Marco was trying to say the whole time, “They are not real cops, they work together!”

“SHOOT!” sounds throughout the street.

“DANIEL!”

The younger brother extends his arms in both directions. “NOOO!” he screams in anger as he creates two invisible barriers to stop the incoming fire. Every second becomes an infinitely small moment, there is no time to lose. Marco hides behind the dashboard and Sean instinctively ducts lower to the ground. The deafening sound of gunfire can be heard all around, shell casings fly through the air, but the bullets stop seemingly mid-flight and simply drop to the ground, crumpled, failed to carry out the task they were designed for. It is the border carnage from six years ago all over again, only this time the wolf brothers are more powerful than ever before.

Sean realizes that they are still alive, and so he joins the gunfight to help his brother. He fires his whole magazine through the shields and a couple of enemies fall to the ground, wounded but not dead yet. Seconds later, the shooting stops for a brief moment and that’s when Sean spots an opportunity. “DO IT!” he shouts at Daniel.

The shields get replaced by shockwaves spreading in both directions and tackling all foes to the ground. For a moment everything becomes peacefully quiet, but there’s still more of them on both ends of the street. The brothers can’t take any chances now, so Daniel lifts all the enemies from the ground and smashes them back down with such force that the asphalt and concrete crumbles beneath them.

Sean and Daniel quickly jump in the back of the car. “Shit, Marco, are you okay?” the older brother asks.

“Yeah, yeah.” is all terrified Marco can say.

“Now, listen. Simply drive as fast as you can straight through them.” Sean points at multiple enemies standing around a car blocking the street. “Trust me.”

“What?”

“GO! NOW!” Daniel yells.

Marco simply holds the wheel steady and presses the gas pedal to the floor as he lowers his head behind the dashboard. Daniel moves his hand to knock down the enemies and then extends both his arms to create yet another, more powerful shield. Seconds later, they plummet through the roadblock like it wasn’t even there. The enemy car gets pushed away and lands in someone’s front yard. Everyone near the car gets thrown around like a bunch of ragdolls. Anyone able to walk from that on their own can be considered lucky. At last, the trio escapes unscathed and now they are on their way to get back to Puerto Lobos as soon as possible.

“That was it! The last straw!” usually calm Sean is now fuming with anger. “Were they police?”

Marco immediately responds, “The ones at the house were cops. We don’t have equipment like that in the gang. As for the other ones…those were definitely Los Caninos. They either bribed them or teamed up to get rid of you as you are wanted fugitives anyway. It’s a convenient deal for them, getting rid of a common enemy.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Daniel adds. “What now, Sean?”

“To be honest…we’ve just possibly killed ten people, at least six of which were police officers. We are not getting away with that. No matter where we go, they will hunt us down.”

“Like I am afraid of them, they don’t stand a chance. But…what do you suggest?”

“We are now in the same situation as we were six years ago, just on the other side of the border. What does it matter if we are hunted here or there? No one will stand in our way anymore.” Then comes the line Daniel wanted to hear for so long, “Fuck it, we should go back.”

Daniel’s eyes widen. He looks directly at his brother and asks, “Back to the US?”

Sean simply nods. Daniel launches at him and they both embrace in a hug that could break the world.

“Let’s go home…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are always welcome to notice me about any possible plotholes, irregularities, mistakes and errors.


End file.
